While Japanese cosplayer Ushijima Ii Niku ("Good Meat") was in Taiwan, she caused a media storm after showing up to an event in her underpants. The incident even made the evening news there. But that's not what is pissing of the country's police force.

Ushijima posed for a photo in front of a Taipei squad car. Wearing a short skirt and loose socks, she flashed her panties as looked into the cop car. The image was one in a series of photos Ushijima had taken while in the city: one showed Ushijima revealing her backside in a Taiwanese arcade, another showed her squatting next to a dog and showing her underpants.

The Taipei Police, obviously upset about the squad car photo, released a statement, noting that, "It's possible that the police's image was damaged." In Taiwan, she's been getting attacked online for what she did.

Advertisement

Serious stuff—no wonder the photo, visible above, was scrubbed from Ushijima's Tumblr. The Taiwanese papers, however, are republishing the photo—no doubt fanning the flames.

The whole incident has been ugly—with many online upset with how this has been handled. Some are upset that after the Taiwanese news aired, Ushijima tweeted things like, "Don't take photos of me without my permission—what you, don't understand Japanese?"

"She's a disgrace to Japan," wrote one commenter online. While Ushijima has flashed her underwear in front of government buildings or Shinto shrines in Japan, the issue here for many Japanese is that she didn't do this in Japan. She did this in Taiwan. That, many would say, reflects poorly on the country. It becomes an international incident.

Ushijima is not a bad person by any means. This is what she does: push buttons. What she wore to this same event last year in Taiwan was pretty racy, and she's probably wonder what the big deal is this year. Sometimes, it's just better to push those buttons back home.